From Begging On Streets To Cambridge University; The Journey Of 22-Yr-Old From Chennai

22-year-old Jayavel from Chennai makes it large by getting a chance to study advanced automobile engineering at the prestigious Cambridge University. However, this is not the big news. His achievement is precious and rare because he had to defy all the odds as the boy’s family is into begging.

Owing to a major crop failure in the 80s, Jayavel’s family moved from Nellore and started begging on the streets of Chennai. Jayavel also accompanied his parents in begging and his family’s sole surviving option was begging. After the death of his father when he was very young, Jayavel’s mother got addicted to alcohol and spent most of the day’s earning on it. Hope resurfaced for Jayavel when he met Uma Muthuraman.

Muthumaran and her husband were documenting the scenario of street kids in Chennai and they met Jayavel and decided to extend their help to him. They took Jayavel under their own guidance in 1999. Their NGO, Suyam Charitable Trust, helped Jayavel to get a proper education.

After he secured good marks in 12th standard, few donors were interested in giving him loan for higher education. After that, he cleared Cambridge University’s entrance examination and got a seat in Glyndwr University, Wales, the United Kingdom to study ‘Performance Car Enhancement Technology Engineering’, a course that deals with enhancing the performance of race cars. He is now going to Italy for further studies.

Jayavel has now become an inspiration for the rest of the kids in the NGO. Suyam Trust borrowed Rs 17 lakh for Jayavel’s studies in London. Muthumaran has to arrange for another 8 lakh rupees for Jayavel to go to Italy and make sure that his studies don’t get interrupted. Jayavel meets his mom once in a while as he doesn’t like her drinking habit. After finishing his studies, Jayavel wants to help Muthumaran in running the trust.